Tape holder



July7, 1959 H. WESTON ET AL TAPE HOLDER Filed May 15, 1957 FIG. l

NX A OL% mwf/a OMM YE T MN NTT R WRO E mmf@ EO W/ HR md .M/ m M :M 0M 4United States Patent Otitice Patented July 7, 1959 TAPE HOLDER HerbertWeston, New York, and Romeo T. Proulx, Copiague, N.Y., assignors toVisirecord, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationMay 13, 1957, Serial No. 658,875

Claims. (Cl. 211-60) This invention relates to tape holders and moreparticularly to a holder which may be placed in a tiling tray andsupport a number of punched tapes.

The use of punched tapes containing data .of various kinds `is steadilyincreasing in connection with various elds of business and various typesof records. lt is not only necessary to provide suitable means forlilling such tapes, but also to index them or otherwise simplify thelocation of a desired tape when it is wanted. In fact, the tiling ofsuch tapes and location of desired tapes when wanted has developed intoone of the most expensive and time-consuming chores of offices in whichvsuch tapes are used.

In the present invention I provide a holder for such tapes in theflat-folded form now in extensiveuse, and suitable'indexing meanswhereby a tape'may beA readily located -when'desired andV easilyreturned -to its, proper place. With'the greater length tapes nowbeingjused, a at pocket on a registry card or the like does not s-uicefor holding such tapes. I, therefore, provide sleeves which areremovably mounted on a card or support, and which have a depth suicientto receive at folded tapes of several thicknesses. Thus, with sleeves ofa depth of 1%2" a seven channel tape folded to 81/2 packs of lengths upto 54 feet can be placed in a sleeve.

The sleeves are of a width to conveniently receive the tapes and anumber of such sleeves can be supported on a single panel. By providingsuitable indexing means on the upper edge of the panel in alignment witheach sleeve, the desired tape can be quickly located, and quicklyreturned to its proper place when desired.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown one form 0f the invention. Inthis showing:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, parts being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, vertical, sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar view on line 3--3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, horizontal, sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. l.

In carrying out the invention, I provide a panel 2 which may be formedof thin sheet metal or other suitable material. The panel is of properheight and width to be received -in a tiling tray, the drawer of afiling cabinet or the like, and is preferably provided with suitable endmembers 4. The end members are of greater thickness than the sheet ofwhich the panel is formed and extend below the lower edge of the panel,as shown in Fig. 1. The side edges of the panel are secured to the endmembers in any suitable manner. As shown in Fig. 4, the end members maybe provided with slots in which the edges of the panel are received. Theedges are retained in the slots by suitable means, such as staples 6.

The lower edge of the panel is shaped to form a pocket 9 to receive thelower ends of the sleeves in which the tapes are kept. As shown, aportion 8 near the lower edge is arranged at right angles to the bodyportion 2 of the panel and the edge portion 10 is then extendedupembodiment is a resilientlysupported falsel bottom which wardly,parallel to the body portion 2 and spaced from it a distance slightlygreater than the depth of the sleeves.

Adjacent the upper edge of the body of the panel, a strip 12 is securedto it by eyelet rivets 14 or other suitable means. The lower edge ofthis strip is olset and spaced a slight distance from the panel, asindicated at 16 (see Fig. 2). Beyond the strip 12, the body 2 of thepanel extends upwardly and rearwardly as at 18, and then forwardly anddownwardly as at 20, the edge portion 20 being spaced from andsubstantially parallel to the adjacent portion 18.

A transparent, plastic index card holder 22 of U-shaped cross section isarranged over the edge of the portion 20 of the panel. One leg of theplastic holder is thus arranged between the sections 18 and 20 to securethe holder in position.

The sleeves 24 which receive the tapes are made of any suitablematerial. I preferably make them of a transparent, plastic, such asTenite II, a product of the Ten-v nesseeEastman Company. They may berectangular in shape consisting of front and rear walls 26 and 28 spaceda desired distance from each other by end walls 30.V At the upper end,the front wall 2 6 is rounded downwardly as at 34, and the rear wallextends above the upper edges of the end walls 30, as indicated at 36inFig. 2.

- The vertical spacing between the upper edge of wall 1,0 and the offsetportion 16 of strip 12 is less than'the height of the sleeve, and meansare arranged in the pocket to rurge the sleeves upwardly -to retain theedge 36 of.

the'rear wall of the sleeve under the offset portion 16, as shown inFig. l2. ,The lattermeans in this preferred' is formed by placing astrip of sponge rubber 38 in the bottom of the pocket. A yielding bottommember 40 overlays and is supported by the sponge rubber. The bottommember may consist of a strip of metal having end portions 42 turneddownwardly and under the bottom 8 of the pocket to prevent itsdisplacement.

Thus when a sleeve is to be inserted or removed, the strip 38 iscompressed by forcing the sleeve downwardly until rear edge portion 36clears the oiset portion 16 of the strip. The rounded portion 34 at thetop of the sleeve `facilitates removal of the sleeve from the panel, orremoval of the tape from the sleeve.

One of the problems in the use of such tapes is the indexing of thetapes so that a desired one may be quickly located. In the panel of thepresent invention, the index holder 22 extends the entire width of thepanel. Index cards 44 of substantially the same size as the width of thesleeves may be arranged between the index holder and the edge portion 20of the panel. They may be aligned with the respective sleeves laterallyof the panel. Thus the desired sleeve may be located by glancing at therow of index cards, and the proper one removed. If the tapes are to belocated by indexing laterally arranged on the panel with the properindex member in alignment with each tape, it is essential that thesleeves and index cards be kept in proper alignment. In some oces it isthe practice to remove a tape from the sleeve and leave the sleeve inposition on the panel. In such cases, the rear wall 28 of the panel maybe provided with suitable printed matter such as the words Tape Out, asindicated at 46 in Fig. 1. The walls of the sleeve being transparent,such Wording will be visible when the tape is removed from a sleeve.This will indicate that the empty sleeve is not to be removed.

In some instances it is the practice to remove the sleeve and tape. Thispresents a greater possibility of misplacing a number of sleeves. Thus,assuming a panel supporting tive sleeves at the left, as in Fig. 1, withthe proper indexing above each sleeve, if we assume removal of the thirdsleeve, there is then a tendency to move the fourth and fth sleeves tothe positions initially occupied by the third and fourth. This would notonly eliminate a place for replacement, but it would align improperindexing with the sleeves then in the third and fourth positions. Wherethe sleeve is removed with the tape the indication such as Tape Out maybe placed on the face of the panel in the position occupied by eachtape. Then in the example given with the third sleeve of Fig. 1, thewords Tape Out would tell that the fourth and fifth sleeves are not tobe moved toward the left and thus place them out of alignment with theirindex cards.

In some instances the panels may be lfiled alone. That is true where theindexing information necessary to locate a desired tape is simple, suchas a series of numbers, as indicated in Fig. 1. In some instances it maybe desirable to have more information -with respect to a given tape, orinformation relating to the same subject as that which is on the tapemay be placed on cards. In such instances banks of cards may be arrangedbehind the panels, the panels thus serving the function of a divider inaddition to that of a tape holder. Such cards may be correlated to thetapes by the index matter, such as the numbers on the index cards ofFig. 1.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for tiling tapes, containing recorded data including apanel member to be received in a tiling cabinet or drawer, said panelcomprising a sheet of material of a suitable width to be received in thedrawer, and end members secured to the opposite side edges of saidsheet, the improvement which consists of a pocket formed on the loweredge of the sheet, a strip secured to the sheet near its upper edge, thelower edge of the strip being spaced from the sheet, and sleeves tocontain the tapes, the bottom portions of the sleeves being received inthe pocket, the sleeves havi-ng rear walls extending upwardly beyond therest of the sleeve and being received between said sheet and the spacedportion of said strip to hold the sleeves in place.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the pocket is providedwith a false bottom to permit a sleeve to be forced downwardly in thepocket to release its upper edge from the strip. Y

3. A device in accordance with claim l in which a layer of elasticmaterial is arranged in the pocket to normally urge the sleeves upwardlyand retain the upper edges of the sleeves in position behind the strip.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the lower edge of thesheet is extended outwardly from the sheet, and then parallel to thesheet to form said pocket.

5. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the sheet is extendedupwardly and rearwardly beyond the point where the strip is mounted, theupper edge then extended downwardly and forwardly parallel to theupwardly and rearwardly extending portion, and a transparent, U-shapedindex member is mounted on said upper edge of said sheet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS952,612 Eul Mar. 22, 1910 1,484,611 Blaine Feb. 19, 1924 1,636,608Kenyon et al. July 19, 1927 1,723,408 Chamberlain et al Aug. 6, 19271,662,744 Hardee Mar. 13, 1928 1,700,274 Smye Ian. 29, 1929 1,779,236Hoegger Oct. 21, 1930 2,533,101 Ghrist Dec. 5, 1950 2,564,318 Wick Aug.14, 1951

